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Use eval to create dynamic templates
There are many ways to start with a simple skeleton whenever you create a file of a given type. One of the easiest methods is given in the Vim help at , which uses an autocmd to read in a pre-made template file whenever you create a file of the appropriate type. This method, although simple, suffers from one major weakness: the resulting file skeleton is completely defined by the static text in the template file. Many templates will have dynamic content such as copyright dates, creation times, file name, etc. that are impossible to define statically. If you don't need or want a huge plugin with tons of features you never use, but need more power than the static initial text given by the example in the :help documents, or if you just like doing things yourself, then read on. Dynamic content from static files The first idea one might have to allow dynamic template content could be to define autocmds that would replace specific pre-defined tags like :DATE: or :FILE_NAME: with the appropriate text. But, why define a syntax of your own, when Vim has a perfectly good expression syntax that you will eventually need to translate into anyway? Using the eval() function, you can easily evaluate an expression obtained from the template file itself in order to provide dynamic content limited only by Vim's expression syntax and parsing. Here's how: In your .vimrc, define an augroup to load all your desired template files, just as discussed in , but modified to do it automatically. It should look something like this: augroup templates au! " read in template files autocmd BufNewFile *.* silent! execute '0r $HOME/vimfiles/templates/skeleton.'.expand(":e") augroup END silent! is used to ignore errors for non-existent templates. This command allows you to create a template for a new file type simply by naming it appropriately and placing it in the correct directory. Next, decide on special indicators to tell Vim to use certain text as an expression. I used :VIM_EVAL:...:END_EVAL:, where the '...' is replaced with whatever expression you want Vim to evaluate to replace the entire block. Now, create all your template files, defining your dynamic content just as you would have Vim create it, and placing the resulting Vim expression inside your chosen indicators. For example, a copyright notice in a C file could look like: /* * Copyright :VIM_EVAL:strftime('%Y'):END_EVAL: ABC Company, all rights reserved. */ Finally, add this autocmd to replace each special tag with the result of the contained expression, after all the template files are loaded: autocmd BufNewFile * %substitute#\:VIM_EVAL:\\(.\{-\}\)\:END_EVAL:\#\=eval(submatch(1))#ge This autocmd takes advantage of the ability to use an expression as the replacement text of an s/ command. See for details. Note that this means your template expressions will be unable to use the same technique internally. The final product should look something like this: augroup templates au! " read in template files autocmd BufNewFile *.* silent! execute '0r $HOME/vimfiles/templates/skeleton.'.expand(":e") " parse special text in the templates after the read autocmd BufNewFile * %substitute#\:VIM_EVAL:\\(.\{-\}\)\:END_EVAL:\#\=eval(submatch(1))#ge augroup END Related plugins These plugins provide similar capabilities, if you want a ready-made solution. * * * Related tips These tips all relate to creating file skeletons. You may find their methods more suited to your taste, or some nice features to combine with this one. *Auto_commands_for_C/C%2B%2B_editing *Shebang_line_automatically_generated *Text_template_with_placeholders *Insert_template_files_into_buffer *Auto_insert_Java_class_template_when_editing_a_new_Java_file Backwards compatibility Note that this tip takes advantage of the eval() function defined in Vim7. If you are using an earlier version, you may need to hack something together to replace it, such as the following: " If we don't have the eval() function (e.g. because this is an old " version of Vim), things are a bit harder...try to duplicate as much " functionality as possible autocmd BufNewFile * g#\:VIM_EVAL:\.*\:END_EVAL:\# \let linetxt=getline('.') | \let reptxt=substitute(linetxt,'.*\:VIM_EVAL:\\(.\{-\}\)\:END_EVAL:\.*','\1',) | \while reptxt!=linetxt | \ let linetxt=substitute(linetxt,'\:VIM_EVAL:\.\{-\}\:END_EVAL:\','\='.reptxt,) | \ let reptxt=substitute(linetxt,'.*\:VIM_EVAL:\\(.\{-\}\)\:END_EVAL:\.*','\1','') | \endwhile | \execute 's/^.*$/'.linetxt.'/' | \unlet linetxt | \unlet reptxt Comments This is quite like the first version of mu-template Gergely Kontra wrote. It's nice until we need not only to evaluate expressions, but also to execute instructions like :let clsName = inputdialog('What name would you like the class to have?') Hence my first hack in mu-template in order to support evaluation and execution. The solution consisted in having a hand made loop that tests each line and execute :substitute, g//exe + normal dd depending on the expression detected. But I still needed more like having template-files that include other template-files. For instance, a C header file always has the same structure: copyrigth headers + header-gates + content + header-date + company-footers. The initial code was quite ugly and damn slow. Hence the third version of the engine where everything is loaded in a , and computed first into memory without modifying the current buffer. All this to say, this is a nice tip, but like mu-template v1, I feel like this is not enough. --Luc Hermitte 08:43, 4 June 2008 (UTC)